Blogs from Glaciers, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

O.K. - I can't remember exactly where I left off on the west coast blog except I did get you to Wanaka sans pictures. So I'm just going to throw in a bunch of pics with descriptions. Sound good. Speaking of which, a common saying here is "good on you" loosely interpreted "good for you" but more. I saw a big billboard that said "Good On Me!"... read more

Travel Period: 11 Nov 2008 to 24 Nov 2008 We all left Queenstown with a heavy heart as we had so much of adventure over here. But our journey still continues with much more fun. The journey to Lake Tekapo was a long but scenic route. We stopped at many intervals. One of our stop was at lake Pukaki. It was breath- taking with turquoise coloured water. We reached at lake Tekapo which is a small town. We checed-in at Scenic Resort and had a balcony facing the lake. We had lunch at the near by cafe which by the way was not that great. I guess it was because the food got so cold fast as we were eating outside. Next on our agenda was Horse Riding. There was a free pick up provided to ... read more

For the long journey to the glaciers we again decided an overnight stop half way was needed, this time in Greymouth. We set off in the bright sunshine stopping at Iramahuwhero Point for lunch and spectacular views down the wild West Coast - huge waves and weathered limestone cliffs. In the other direction you could see the snowy peak of Mount Cook in the distance, New Zealand's highest mountain. A little further down the coast we walked the Truman Track: a short walk through the bush and we emerged onto a wild beach where, even on an otherwise calm day, the waves were enormous and fiercely pounding the coast. Our next stop was at the Pancake Rocks - dramatic limestone rock formation that looked like stacks of giant pancakes. From there we continued along the winding ... read more

February 5th We woke early in the middle of a heard of cows all mooing right down our lug holes. We were not best pleased as it was 0700. The farmer was moving them from field to field with his pickup, dogs and a madly loud holler. Katherine parted the curtain to see, at eye level, a cow right the other side of the glass and promptly returned to the door-mouse position. We didn't have breakkie. We just waited for the cows to leave and hoofed it. Fox Glacier was about 25 km north of our lay by. We entered through a dramatic valley that had been horrifically scarred by the glacier. It was smooth rock with tiny ledges that were completely covered in as many little trees that could grow. This was our first experience ... read more

Hello! Back to the boring blogs now - no daredevil antics this time we're afraid! From Queenstown we made our way over to Westland and Northwards to two of New Zealands biggest attractions: Fox and Franz Josef glaciers. They are both still descending and develop at a really fast rate due to the amount of rainfall they get over here on the West coast. On average the glaciers descend about 1.5m per DAY, and Franz Josef can sometimes move as much as 5m - 10 times faster than the Swiss glaciers! Fox Glacier is the smaller of the two and was the first that we visited. We took a short walk to a viewpoint but couldn't get too close as the path was shut due to a recent rockfall! Impressed with the size of the glacier ... read more